News photo by Steve Schulwitz A water tower in Alpena stands on the shore of the Thunder Bay River in this November 2022 News file photo.

ALPENA — Both Alpena Township and the city of Alpena are making a last-ditch effort to reach a deal to end the decade-long water and sewer litigation between the two.

In a statement issued Saturday, township attorney Chris Patterson said a last-ditch effort to avoid the trial scheduled to begin Wednesday is ongoing, and the township submitted a proposal to city officials on Friday morning.

City Attorney Bill Pfeifer said the city was being proactive and presented a proposal to the township for consideration on March 21. After the Alpena Township Board of Trustees reviewed it and turned it down, the township responded with a counteroffer to the city on Friday.

Patterson and Pfeifer said both the trustees and the council members have been, and will continue to work hard to find a resolution, hopefully before the trial.

“The Township Board has worked diligently this week, as it has over the last ten years, to resolve the dispute between the City and the Township,” Patterson said in the written statement. “The Township Board finds it regrettable that the City was unwilling to accept the settlement previously presented and supported by both the City’s rate expert and Township’s rate expert. That has not kept the Township from trying to find common ground. In an attempt to avoid the additional expense of the trial set for next Wednesday, the Township transmitted a reasonable settlement proposal to the City on Friday morning. The Township remains hopeful that it will be accepted by the City for the benefit of both communities’ ratepayers. If the City remains unwilling to agree to a reasonable resolution reached by the parties, the Township is prepared for the Court to bring a close to this decade long dispute.”

Pfeifer said the statement by Patterson only tells half the story and ignores the fact that the city had reached out to the township more than a week before Alpena received the offer from the township. He said the proposal from the township is being reviewed and it will be discussed in closed session during tonight’s Alpena Municipal Council meeting.

“The city sent a proposal on March 21 to the township attorney and as required, presented to the board of trustees on March 25,” Pfeifer said. “The city did receive a response on Friday and as legally required, I will share it with the council at Monday’s meeting.”

Pfeifer said he would not speculate if the council would agree to the latest proposal from the township.

No matter which municipality offered a proposal first is not the headline in this ongoing saga that has seen the two sides locked in litigation for a decade. The fact that there is movement behind the scenes of the elected officials trying to reach a deal on the eve of the trial is significant.

Millions of dollars in tax-payers money have been spent on consultant and attorney fees over the years, and although an agreement has appeared imminent at times, talks abruptly ended which always set the process back.

Alpena Township buys water and sewer services from the city to provide those services to many of its residents. Township officials have refused to pay rate increases instituted by the city because township officials believe the city should treat the township as a wholesale customer because of the volume of water the township purchases.

Litigation began in 2014 after the expiration of an agreement that established a formula the city used to determine rates charged to the township.

As the litigation moved forward, the two parties continued to bargain on the side but made little to no progress over the years.

In 2017, the circuit court ordered the two sides into mediation. That lasted only one day, however, as city officials didn’t see enough progress to continue.

A settlement appeared likely early in 2018, however, when both governing boards voted to approve “principle terms” for an agreement. That vote wasn’t for a deal on rates, but on seeking a process for establishing rates that could end the dispute.

After continuing negotiations failed to yield a deal, the local court essentially ordered the two sides to adhere to the terms they’d reached earlier in the year.

Shortly after, the township appealed a portion of that ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and the city filed a cross-appeal. The appellate court also ordered mediation, which again yielded no agreement.

The appeals court then ruled that the proposed agreement was non-binding, which the township appealed to the state Supreme Court. The state’s highest court declined to hear the case and sent it back to the circuit court in Alpena.

During the initial hearing in circuit court, then-judge Michael Mack ordered the opening of an escrow account in the name of both governments. Mack required the township to deposit into that account the difference between the old rates the township had paid and the higher rates the city set for all of its customers.

The township’s latest audit shows $3.6 million in that account as of March 31, 2023.

The audit says Alpena wants the township to pay about $13.5 million in late fees.

Over the last few years, the two municipalities have worked together toward establishing a new authority that would oversee water and sewer operations for both governments.

The two sides reached a draft agreement on a water and sewer authority early in 2022. It was the second attempt to form an authority, as the city proposed the idea before the litigation began, but the idea was shot down by the township.

The latest effort to create an authority fell apart in July, setting the stage for the trial.